Senior Payroll Analyst: Workday & Compliance

Essex Property Trust, Inc.; Irvine, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 94,000 - 117,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Housing discount 20%

Annual bonus program

Job summary

Essex Property Trust, Inc. seeks an experienced Senior Payroll Analyst to optimize Workday-based payroll and absence management, ensuring compliance across CA and other states. You will partner with HR and Accounting to resolve complex processing issues and back up bi-weekly payroll runs.

Hybrid role based in Irvine, requiring strong analytical, communication, and project management skills to support payroll accuracy and SOX compliance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Accounting, Finance, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of progressive payroll experience, including hands-on payroll systems administration and payroll processing.
• In-depth knowledge of payroll regulations, and compliance with multi-state and local payroll processing.
• Experience in Workday components such as Payroll, Absence Management, Time Tracking and OSV Atmosphere.
• Strong MS Office skills with Excel (Pivot Tables, VLOOKUP).

Responsibilities

• Maintain Workday Payroll and absence management settings to align with policies and compliance.
• Stay updated on state and federal payroll regulations and perform regular audits.
• Generate and analyze payroll reports to identify trends and resolve issues.
• Provide training and create documentation for payroll processes.
• Lead bi-annual Workday Payroll and Absence feature release testing.
• Back up payroll processing as needed.
• Prepare bi-weekly payroll funding and reconcile with OSV Atmosphere.
• Assist with year-end statements and off-cycle payroll runs.

Skills

Payroll expertise

Cross-functional collaboration

Regulatory compliance

SOX compliance

Data analysis

Communication

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Workday

OSV Atmosphere

Absence Management

Time Tracking

Excel

Job description

Essex Property Trust, Inc. seeks an experienced Senior Payroll Analyst to optimize Workday-based payroll and absence management, ensuring compliance across CA and other states. You will partner with HR and Accounting to resolve complex processing issues and back up bi-weekly payroll runs.

Hybrid role based in Irvine, requiring strong analytical, communication, and project management skills to support payroll accuracy and SOX compliance.